Croí cookbook has delicious recipes to help reduce cholesterol

Croí, the Heart and Stroke Charity for Mayo and Galway has launched a Healthy Ways Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide for people interested in improving their health and preventing heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

The health team at the Croí Heart & Stroke Centre, Galway, has produced a 146 page colourful ‘Healthy Ways Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide’ which uniquely combines proven lifestyle and dietary advice together with delicious recipes which have been adapted by a specialist cardiac dietitian.

The book provides the reader with easy to cook meal ideas and demonstrates how small changes to lifestyle can have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing.

The book has come about in response to the large numbers of people looking for tips on how to make changes to everyday meals and lifestyle habits which are good for their heart health.

Unlike many cookbooks which focus solely on weight-loss, the Croí Healthy Ways Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide has been specially designed to help individuals achieve multiple goals; such as reducing cholesterol and blood pressure; managing diabetes and weight, while also providing a varied and balanced diet.

Recipes

The book contains 100 delicious and easy to cook recipes – 30 of which are signature recipes from leading west of Ireland and other restaurants.

All the recipes have been adapted by the book’s lead author Claire Kerins, Croí Specialist Cardiac Dietitian who says, “Heart disease and stroke remains the number one cause of death and disability in Ireland.

However, the good news is that both of these are highly preventable by changing what we eat and how we exercise. These changes don’t have to be drastic. Taking simple steps such as reducing our total fat, salt and sugar intake or increasing our daily physical activity levels can make a huge difference.”

The lifestyle section of the cookbook details easy-to-follow steps to forming lasting healthier habits with lots of information on how to identify the risk factors for heart disease and stroke. It has loads of tips on stress management and exercise as well as valuable information on menu options and portion control.

“You don’t have to put all the advice into practice straight away” says Kerins, “When it comes to taking care of your health, you need to get back to basics and take small achievable steps which in the longer term are easier to maintain” she says.

Speaking at the launch, Croí CEO Neil Johnson said, “Today, our lives are busier than ever and as a result we tend to be easily drawn to the ‘quick fix’ or ‘fad diets’, none of which are good for our health in the long term.

“The aim of this book is to promote healthy habits, while still enjoying our food and the pleasures of life. The publication is a natural development from the prevention work being undertaken at the Croí Heart & Stroke Centre, and as such serves two purposes – it helps raise awareness of the importance of healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle but it also helps raise funds to support the work of Croí”

The book retails at just €14.95 and is available online from www.croi.ie or from McLoughlin’s Bookshops in Castlebar & Westport and other bookstores nationwide.